With the increasing popularity of cellular phone communications, managing the data associated with calls to and from cellular phones has become increasingly complex. For example, some of this data is cell face transfer data. Cellular phone systems typically include a cell face (or antenna) mounted on an antenna tower receiving calls from cell phones. Typically, a cell face receives calls within an associated geographic coverage area called a cell. An antenna tower can have multiple cell faces oriented at different angles to handle calls originating from multiple directions around the antenna tower. A process is employed in order to choose a cell face that handles the call from each cell phone. The process of selecting and switching among cell faces involves the use of data that designates available cell faces. A neighbor list in the database specifies all the neighbor faces to which the current call can be handed off to. Before handing a call to a neighbor cell face, signal strength from all the neighbor faces are measured and the cell face with the strongest signal strength is designated for handoff. For example, as a mobile call moves away from one cell face, the neighbor list is accessed to select another cell face that is closer to the call so that the call can be handed off to the closer cell face.
The neighbor list data and numerous other types of data (such as data pertaining to cells, Channel Data, Trunk Group and Member data, Device data, etc.) may be stored in a database of a cellular network, such as one manufactured by Ericsson. Making changes to data in one of these databases in the cellular network may be complex. For example, typically an operating system in the cellular network is used to access a command handler application. The command handler application accepts line commands and performs updates and revisions to the database based on these line commands.
One problem with these line commands is that they are not intuitive to a user. Thus, a user must be familiar with specific line commands in order to enter the correct line commands and make the proper updates and revisions. When a lot of updates need to be made to the database, manually using line commands is time-consuming and also error prone because the risk of a mistake increases. Thus, there is a need for automating the update process of these databases to decrease the amount of time required to perform database updates and also decrease the number of errors made in updating these databases.